Located in San Jose, the Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum is home to the largest collection of Egyptian artifacts on display in western North America, according to its website.

“It is the only museum in the world housed in a building based on ancient Egyptian architecture. It is modeled after the Temple of Amun in Karnak, Egypt,” Julie Scott, executive director of the museum, told The Epoch Times in an email.

The artifacts are spread among the museum’s three levels and organized into four different sections: daily life, afterlife, religion, and rulers.

Scott said the strength of the museum’s collection is items that ancient Egyptians used in everyday life, including a senet gameboard, ancient hair extensions, and ceramic jugs in the shape of the ancient Egyptian deity Bes, who was believed to protect children and pregnant women.

Other everyday items that are showcased include sandals, mirrors, cosmetic pallets, tweezers, razors, lamps, and headrests.

To add to the experience, the museum has an app that includes gallery maps as well as audio recordings of artifact descriptions that visitors can listen to as they tour the collection.

The museum has over 4,000 artifacts, including items from pre-dynastic Egypt (4500–3000 B.C.) through Egypt’s early Islamic era  (A.D. 642–present), according to the museum’s website.

Scott said that a main highlight of the museum’s collection is a rare basalt statue of the famous Queen Cleopatra dated back to 51–30 B.C. The website states that it is one of only seven ancient statues of Cleopatra in the world today.

Additional highlights, she said, include a rock statue of the ancient Egyptian goddess of war and healing, Sekhmet, who had the body of a woman and the head of a lion, from Pharaoh Amenhotep III’s mortuary temple around 1390–1352 B.C.; as well as a male mummy whose arms are crossed on his chest, indicating that he might have been royalty.

Scott said the museum purchased two sarcophagi from a 1971 Neiman-Marcus Christmas catalog, and one of them was found to contain the male mummy.

Most of the museum’s artifacts were purchased over the years, and a small percentage were donated, she said.

She said that some of the purchased artifacts were from other museums that were experiencing financial challenges in the 1930s.

“We later discovered that some of them were extremely rare, including a mummified sacred apis bull, a bust of Tutankhamun, and important funerary boat models,” she said.

The facility has also built a replica tomb inside the museum as well as replica statues, including the Rosetta Stone, made from casts of the originals housed in a British museum.

Along with the display of artifacts, the museum seeks to educate its visitors by providing workshops exploring many topics, including myths of ancient Egypt, scribe school, and symbols and amulets.

“Our goal is that our guests will learn about people from a time and place different from their own, leading to more understanding and thereby more peace in the world. Plus it’s fun!” Scott said.

She said the ancient Egyptians had a very close relationship with nature and sought to keep balance in the world. She said that this understanding can be useful in addressing contemporary issues.

A new addition to the museum is an interactive artificial intelligence (AI) robot named after the ancient Egyptian deity Thoth. In ancient Egypt, Thoth was the Keeper of the Mysteries. He was also the god of the moon, sacred texts, math, science, and magic; messenger and recorder of the deities; master of knowledge; and patron of scribes, according to the museum’s website.

In front of the Thoth exhibit is a microphone that visitors can use to ask the AI robot questions. It’s powered by GPT-4+ and capable of understanding and responding in 14 languages. It’s trained to answer questions on the teachings of the ancient Mystery Schools of Egypt, Greece, and Rome, as well as Alchemy and Rosicrucianism, according to a press release.

The AI Thoth is able to answer questions related to physics, astronomy, consciousness, and more, the press release states.

“As people navigate the rapidly evolving landscape of AI, the team at the Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum recognizes the importance of using it properly,” the press release states.

“Like any technology, AI can serve both positive and negative purposes. The museum’s commitment is to harness the Thoth AI Robot for the highest good, guided by wisdom and foresight. Its aim is to contribute to the ethical direction AI development takes, ensuring it serves humanity’s best interests.”

To create Thoth, the museum partnered with the UK’s Engineered Arts, a designer and manufacturer of humanoid entertainment robots.

On the museum grounds, there’s also a Peace Garden based on excavated examples from the archaeological ruins of the city of Tell el-Amarna. The garden contains authentic Egyptian garden plants, both medicinal and edible, and offers visitors a glimpse back in time.

Scott said the Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum is sponsored by the Rosicrucian Order (AMORC), a worldwide philosophical organization based in San Jose, California, whose traditional history dates back to ancient Egypt.

History

The museum’s first artifact was a Sekhmet statue, which the founder of the AMORC, H. Spencer Lewis, kept on his desk. He founded the order as a philosophical and educational nonprofit organization in 1915, according to the museum’s website.

In the 1920s, the AMORC assisted the Egypt Exploration Society in Tell el-Amarna with excavations. To show gratitude, the society donated several artifacts to AMORC.

Lewis encouraged members to add to the collection, and they did.

In 1927, he decided to put the collection on display, and he had glass cases built on the second floor of AMORC’s administration building.

In 1929, Lewis led a spiritual journey through Egypt, which resulted in additional donations of artifacts for the museum. By 1932, the growing collection needed more room, so a new building was constructed.

Later, Lewis’s son, Ralph Lewis, took over the AMORC and directed the growth of the museum. By the early 1960s, the museum’s collection had outgrown its location again.

In 1965, Ralph Lewis led a research team that explored tombs and temples in Egypt. Drawing inspiration from the trip, he modeled the new museum on the temples he explored.

In November 1966, today’s Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum opened. It currently hosts more than 100,000 guests per year.